Amsterdam has been proposed as the site for MH17 Memorial

Last year, a UK-based event organiser, Matterbetter, has organised an open-ideas international competition for architects and students to remember and honour the victims of the MH17 tragedy.

The open competition was aimed at exploring possible themes and directions for a proposed MH17 Memorial. The tragedy is significant as it has influenced thousands of lives in direct or indirect manner across the entire world.

Most of all this tragedy has affected the Netherlands - the Dutch nation that lost 193 souls in this catastophe. Therefore Amsterdam, the departure point of this one way flight, was selected as a location for the MH17 Memorial.

Matterbetter has proposed to design an artificial island in the IJmeer in Amsterdam, the city's “Internal Sea” situated between the Java-eiland and Amsterdam-Noord, the rapidly developing part of the city.

The memorial will be a place that honours remembrances, respect for life and a preservation of peace for the broader society and as such it forms a new public space for Amsterdam's cultural infrastructure.

MH 17 Memorial Winner William Smith and Hiroshi Kaneko (USA).

On the 25th of January of 2015, the first place winner was announced after the competition attracted more than 290 submissions worldwide.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was allegedly shot down by missile near the Ukraine–Russia border on 17 July 2014, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board.

The crew were all Malaysians and 193 passengers were Dutch, while many of the other passengers were Australians and Malaysians. By 19 July, the airline had determined the nationalities of all 298 passengers and crew.

The Boeing 777-200ER airliner lost contact about 50km (31 mi) from the Ukraine–Russia border and crashed near Torez in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, 40km from the border. The aircraft crashed outside Hrabove, near Torez in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.

As the first year anniversary approaches in less than one month from today, we review the following 10 winning proposals selected by an international 9-person jury panel.